Sarah Palin has suddenly, spectacularly and confrontationally leaped onto the stage of national American politics. Her name and image have quickly taken up an enormous space in the American psyche, much like a powerful and disturbing sleep-dream image. Like a dream image, Ms Palin’s appearance has disrupted the American status quo. Her selection as the Republican vice presidential candidate has stirred things up. She evokes extremely powerful reactions, both positive and negative.
In the few days since her name became a household word, Americans have struggled to figure out who and what she is. Much of the fragmented picture of her that emerges has been painted in Palin’s own words. She has tried to define herself for us.
Among various self-descriptors, she has proudly (and now famously) described herself as a bulldog with lipstick. This is a most powerful image, one that cannot be ignored. It is as powerful as an image from a sleep dream or a nightmare.
As with entities in our sleep dreams, so too the significance of public figures, such as politicians, lies less in what they “really” are, as in what they mean to those who perceive them. What does Sarah Palin, whoever she might “really" be, mean to Americans?
The image of a red-lipped pit bull evokes strong reactions. What do I make of it when a pit bull threatens me in a sleep dream, what does it mean?
First off, I must be aware that such a canine is, indeed, a very real threat to me. A barking and snapping pit bull does, indeed, endanger my health and well-being. There is no cootchee-coo’ing an angry pit bull into polite and acceptable behavior.
Even if it is my own, a pit bull must always be kept on a tight and secure leash, otherwise I will lose control and it will wreak damage, upon those around me, and, quite possibly upon me, too.
I must be as alert and centered as I possibly can, in order to skillfully deal with a pit bull.
A pit bull has as its sole goal to physically take down what it perceives as its enemy or victim. It has no other motivators, no “bigger picture” to guide its actions. Its ability to succeed in attaining its blood-splattered goals lies in its terrifying fability to focus attention and action on subduing its adversary.
I never want the pit bull to be in charge. Its natural tendency is to view anyone and everyone as fair game. Any interaction can instantaneously become a fight to the death. Difference is automatically to be eradicated. Just as a toddler is fair game, so is a sweet granny, and anyone in between.
While I must retain my thinking ability as clear and flexible as possible, I must remember that the pit bull cannot be reasoned with. It is all emotions and physicality. It does me no good to denigrate it for being such as it is. I must simply take its nature into account and interact with it as intelligently and skillfully as I can.
With a pit bull in the picture, I must reamin fully engaged. I must stay centered and think clearly. I must be ready to use the full range of my body and of my emotions. A pit bull will try to terrify me and keep me off balance, so that I am more easily subdued. I must be alert and constantly assess the ever-changing situation in order to protect myself.
Normal rules and guidelines go out the window with a pit bull. While I must retain all my understandings of decent and acceptable behavior, the pit bull forces me to understand that there are beings that will challenge and violate such notions. I must be able to deal with them effectively and yet not turn into a pit bull myself.
No one wants to deal with an attacking pit bull, regardless of the shade of its lipstick. However, the snarling eruption of Sarah Palin onto the American political scene snarls and barks its demands for our attention. Any form of complacency or knee-jerk reaction to her presence is not useful. The rejuvenating energy that she has generated among her fans must be met with and equal amount of skillfully channeled energy in those who feel threatened by her snarling teeth, steel-clenching jaws and bloody lips.
Even bad dreams and nightmares, when skillfully interacted with, can enhance our abilities to shape our circumstances so as to create lives that feel increasingly worth living.
